Azeitão
Cheese
Top 10 pairings
Azeitão is a small, protected (DOP) Portuguese cheese made from raw sheep's milk curdled with cardoon-thistle rennet rather than animal rennet. Its semi-soft, buttery, intensely flavoured paste is traditionally eaten by slicing off the top rind and spooning out the creamy interior.
Picking a good onedrag
Whole yellow rind, clean smellStray mould, sour-rotten
Ripe and slumpingSpoon itSlumping and almost running when opened is ripe, not off. Scoop it with torn bread. Same raw-milk exclusion.
Rind and bandStill whole, yellow to orange, soft and yielding
When you lift the lidStraw-coloured, soft enough to spoon
Smell at the cutFuller and more pungent, still clean underneath